PRIMER TO CHARACTERISTIC CLASSES WITH APPLICATION TO GAUGE THEORY. TOM SAWADA. Abstract. In this paper, we explore characteristic classes of real and complex vector bundles. We then provide an application of Chern classes to the Dirac magnetic monopole. Contents 1. Introduction. 1 1.1. Notation and Conventions. 2 2. Pontrjagin Classes. 2 3. Chern Classes. 3 4. Euler Class. 4 5. Characteristic Numbers. 5 6. Generalizations. 6 7. Application: Dirac Magnetic Monopole. 6 8. Appendix: Stiefel-Whitney Classes. 8 9. Acknowledgments. 10 References 10 1. Introduction. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief overview of the theory of character- istic classes. In the literature, there are generally two approaches to characteristic classes. The first approach heavily relies on algebraic topology. See [4] for this approach. The second approach, generally referred to as Chern-Weil theory, uses machineries from differential geometry. The interested reader should consult [3], [5], and [6] for this approach. 1 We will follow the second approach because it al- lows us to write the characteristic classes explicitly in terms of connections of fiber bundles. We give a brief discussion of Stiefel-Whitney classes in the appendix. Thus, the prerequisites of this paper are elementary algebraic and differential topology as well as differential geometry. In particular, we will assume results from the theory of fiber bundles and de Rham cohomology. Excellent references for these two topics include [3] and [5]. Date: August 13, 2019. 1It is worth noting that this second approach is restricted to real coefficients for Pontrjagin classes. For our purposes, this will not pose any inconveniences. 1 2 TOM SAWADA. 1.1. Notation and Conventions. Manifolds are taken to be smooth, Hausdorff, and paracompact. Bundles will be denoted by ξ = (E; π; M) or the standard E −!π M. 2. Pontrjagin Classes. Let r be a connection on the n-dimensional vector bundle E over M. If f is an invariant polynomial of degree k, then f(Ω) is a 2k-form. Definition 2.1. The Pontrjagin class of degree k is the characteristic class 1 (2.2) p (E) = σ (Ω) 2 H4k (M) = H4k(M; ) k (2π)2k 2k dR R where σi is the ith symmetric polynomial. When we say we take the polynomial of the curvature, we mean the following. For a neighborhood U in the base space, we can choose a frame e on EjU , and write the curvature Ω as a matrix of 2-forms, R(e). We can thus make sense of what we mean by taking a polynomial of these curvatures. For a different choice of frame e0, we would have a different matrix R(e0) related to the first by R(e) = gR(e)g−1 where g is a smooth map from U to the n × n-invertible matrices. We can restrict to a special class of polynomials P for which the resulting expression P (R(e)) does not depend on the choice of frames: Definition 2.3. Let A = (Aij) 2 Mn(F) (for F = R or C). The homogeneous 2 polynomial P 2 F[A11; :::; Ann] in n variables is invariant if for all g 2 GLn(F), (2.4) P (gAg−1) = P (A) One can show that P (Ω) is a closed form for any choice of P and r, and in fact, the cohomology class [P (Ω)] is independent of P and r. All of the above are general constructions that apply to the other characteristic classes as well. See Chapter 18 of [3] for details. We only consider even degree polynomials because of the following fact. Proposition 2.5. If an invariant polynomial f has odd degree, then [f(Ω)] = 0 in 2k HdR(M). k Proof. Since any invariant polynomial can be written in terms of sk(A) := T r(A ), 2 it suffices to show [sk(Ω)] = 0 . Place a Riemannian metric on E, and take a connection r on E compatible with the metric. Since the connection forms are antisymmetric, the curvature forms are also antisymmetric. Hence, for k odd, k (2.6) sk(Ω) = Tr(Ω ) = 0 where Ω is the skew symmetric matrix corresponding to Ω. 2See Appendix B of [3] for details. PRIMER TO CHARACTERISTIC CLASSES WITH APPLICATION TO GAUGE THEORY. 3 3. Chern Classes. In analogy to the construction of Pontrjagin classes, we consider the invariant polynomial σk(A) given by n X k (3.1) det(Id + tA) = σk(A)t k=0 which is the most elementary example of an invariant polynomial. Definition 3.2. The kth Chern class of the complex vector bundle ξ is the cohomology class " # 1 k (3.3) c (ξ) = σ (Ω) 2 H2k(M; ) k 2πi k C and the total Chern class of ξ is the graded class ∗ (3.4) c(ξ) = 1 + c1(ξ) + c2(ξ) + ::: 2 H (M; C) Let's motivate the coefficient given in the definition of ck (ξ). Take the cohomol- ogy class C · σk(Ω) for some C 2 C. The idea is that the Chern classes must lie in cohomology groups with integer coefficients. Since CP 1 is a connected, compact, smooth manifold, the integration map 2 1 (3.5) I : H (CP ; C) ! C is an isomorphism. The canonical inclusion j : CP 1 ,! CP n also induces an isomorphism ∗ 2 n 2 1 (3.6) j : H (CP ; C) ! H (CP ; C) Our goal is to choose C 2 C so that C · σk(Ω) maps to an integer which we choose wlog to be −1 under the isomophism I ◦ j∗. Take the canonical line bundle H1 over CP 1, and consider the stereographic projection maps z z (3.7) (z; t) = ; = (z; t) 2 2 n fN; Sg − 1 + t + 1 − t S for the north and south poles N; S. Using this, we have −1 ∗ 2i (3.8) ( − ) (Ω) = dx ^ dy (1 + jzj2) Passing to polar coordinates and computing, we have Z −1 ∗ (3.9) ( − ) (Ω) = 2πi 2 R Therefore, 4 TOM SAWADA. Z (3.10) Ω = 2πi 1 CP 1 which implies that we must indeed take C = 2πi . 4. Euler Class. We recall from our discussion of Pontrjagin classes that f(Ω) for an invariant polynomial of odd degree gives a trivial cohomology class. As a result, the highest cohomology class has degree divisible by 4. The idea for Euler class is to take the \square root" of this highest Pontrjagin class. Let E be a real oriented vector bundle over M with Riemannian metric and connection compatible with the metric. Let P fX be the Pfaffian. From the identity det X = P f(X)2, we have 2 (4.1) e(E) = pn(E) where we define: Definition 4.2. The Euler class of a real oriented vector bundle E is the coho- mology class 1 (4.3) e(E) = P f(Ω) 2 H2n(M; ) (2π)n R For an alternative definition, we first define the Thom isomorphism. Proposition 4.4. Let ξ be an oriented n-plane bundle with total space E. Then the i cohomology group H (E; E0; Z) is zero for i < n, where E0 = E n B. Furthermore, Hn(E; E0; Z) contains one and only one cohomology class u whose restriction n (4.5) uj(F;F0) 2 H (F; F0; Z) is equal to the preferred generator uF for every fiber F of ξ, where F0 is F mi- nus the base point. Furthermore, the correspondence y 7! y [ u maps Hk(E; Z) k+n isomorphically onto H (E; E0; Z) for every integer k. Definition 4.6. Notation as in the previous proposition, the map k k+n (4.7) φ : H (B; Z) ! H (E; E0; Z) (4.8) x 7! (π∗x) [ u is the Thom isomorphism. Using the above, we can alternatively define the Euler class as the cohomol- n ∗ ogy class e(ξ) 2 H (B; Z) which corresponds to ujE under the isomorphism π : Hn(B; Z) ! Hn(E; Z). See section I.6 of [1] for an explicit construction of the Euler class for a rank 2 vector bundle. PRIMER TO CHARACTERISTIC CLASSES WITH APPLICATION TO GAUGE THEORY. 5 We recall that the Gauss-Bonnet theorem relates the local geometry (given by Gaussian curvature) to the global topology (given by the Euler characteristic). We give a generalization of this fact here. Proposition 4.9 (Generalized Gauss-Bonnet.). Let M be an oriented 2n-dimensional closed C1 manifold. Then (4.10) he(TM); [M]i = χ(M) Hence, for the curvature form Ω of a connection compatible with the Riemannian metric on M, Z (4.11) e(TM) = χ(M) M Remark 4.12. The above is the origin of the name \Euler class." See [3] or [5] for a proof of this. 5. Characteristic Numbers. Characteristic numbers describe the global curving properties of vector bundles. Here, we will look at some examples of characteristic numbers and state some re- sults in cobordism theory. See section 5.7 of [5], and section 4, 16, and 17 of [4]. Definition 5.1. Let M be a 4n-dimensional, oriented closed manifold. For a homogeneous polynomial f of degree n, a Pontrjagin number is the number (5.2) hf(p1(M); p2(M); :::); [M]i where [M] is the fundamental class of M and pk are the Pontrjagin classes. Chern numbers and Stiefel-Whitney numbers are defined analogously. See the appendix for a treatment of Stiefel-Whitney classes. Theorem 5.3. Let B be a smooth, compact n-dimensional manifold. B can be realized as a boundary of some smooth compact manifold M iff all of its Stiefel- Whitney numbers are zero.